睡眠的航線

by Wu Ming-Yi, 吳明益

一部從自然生態視角，拉出一條超越個人和家族生命史轴線的大器小說……

「陷入time-free睡眠狀態的男子，十三歲赴日製造戰機的少年三郎，因不得漏失任何苦難而不能睡眠的菩蕯，被當做床腳而只好承受睡眠者夢境重量的烏龜，囚禁在動物園裡供人參觀的飛行員……」。

Genres: Fiction

318 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2007

About the author

Writer, painter, designer, photographer, literary professor, butterfly scholar, environmental activist, traveler and blogger rolled into one, Wu Ming-Yi is very much a modern Renaissance Man. Over the last decade, he has produced an impressive body of work, especially with his fiction and nature writing.

Wu Ming-Yi (b.1971) studied advertising at Fu-Jen Catholic University and has a PhD in Chinese Literature from National Central University. He has been teaching literature and creative writing at Dong Hwa University since 2000 and is now Professor of the Department of Chinese.

Wu’s literary reputation was first established by his nature writing. In THE BOOK OF LOST BUTTERFLIES (2000) and THE WAY OF BUTTERFLIES (2003), he chronicles his lifelong fascination with this beautiful creature and contemplates the invisible bond between man and nature. He wrote, designed, and provided drawings and photographs for the books, as if crafting works of art. Both books made the “Best of the Year” lists, with THE WAY OF BUTTERFLIES winning China Times’ Open Book Award and being chosen as one of the ten most influential books by Kingstore Bookstore.

In 2006, juggling academic life and the need for a period of uninterrupted time for his writing and traveling, Wu decided to resign from his teaching post. This is unheard of in a country where almost no one can make a living writing full-time and many would fight for a stable teaching job. In the end, Dong Hwa University gave Wu a year of sabbatical leave – they didn't want to lose him.

A year later, Wu published two books: his third collection of nature writing, SO MUCH WATER SO CLOSE TO HOME, and his debut novel, ROUTES IN THE DREAM. DREAM re-imagines Taiwan’s complicated history as a Japanese colony and examines the relationship between fathers and sons, memory and dreams. Hailed as a groundbreaking work of literary historical fiction, it was nominated for every major award and was chosen as one of the ten best Chinese-language novels of the year by Asian Weekly magazine (along with Ai Mi’s Hawthorn Tree Forever, Liu Zhenyun’s My Name Is Liu Yuejin, and Dai Sijie’s Once on a Moonless Night) . Wu was the only Taiwanese author on the list.

It is his eco-fantasy novel THE MAN WITH THE COMPOUND EYES (2011), however, that has gained Wu international recognition, with major English and French translations appearing in 2013 and 2014. A “Taiwanese Life of Pi”, it is an ambitious exploration of Taiwan's island identity, the cost of environmental degradation, and how humans make sense of the world around them, at once poetic, philosophical and far-reaching. It has already caught the attention of major writers in the genre such as Ursula K. Le Guin.

Reviews

[Masque Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

作為對照，追完吳明益（離開教職）專心一年寫下的「家離水邊那麼近」（散文）與「睡眠的航線」（小說）。

小說開頭的氣勢極強，雖然不知他本身有無這個企圖，有村上春樹雙線敘述的巨大風格。然而不同於村上最後略為激怒人的什麼都不說的風格（而極容易造成讀者誤讀），吳明益從雙線開展的更多敘事，將故事更明確的推給讀者，卻也，有點鬆開的感覺。

於是這是一部戰爭的故事，「戰爭的背後其實還有戰爭，而災難的背後仍將有災難」。如同秋貴芬在導讀寫的「這是人類文明，也是自然運轉的本質。只有堅強的人，才能在發生災難時存活下來。」「竹子開花並不一定會全部死去，總有那麼一兩棵強韌的活下來，它們會重新生出竹笋，佔領那些沒有在死亡後迅速重生的竹子的土地，開花後沒完全死盡的竹子才是成功的竹子。」

雖然作者自己說了，他是怎樣也不會參加戰爭的人。

吳明益也將菩薩寫的非常精彩「菩薩珍視世人的祈求，但祂並不能實現祈求，只能收藏祈求。這是因為凡人的願望多半相互干擾、矛盾，隱含著傷害性。祂幾乎很難同時實現兩個人、兩個家族、兩個民族、兩個國家的願望，而不傷害其中一個；而菩薩如此慈悲，祂無法珍視一個祈求而傷害其他祈求，以致於祂決定珍藏所有以祂為名或不以祂為名的祈求。」

所以「菩薩清楚每事件的源頭，菩薩是唯一能用眼看到了聲音的神明，菩薩知道每個生命與無生命的命定事件，以及他們對命定事件的一切反應，祂了悟事件之河會流向哪裡，就好像讀過世界從開始到毀滅的所有舊報紙。」

就好像讀過世界從開始到毀滅的所有舊報紙。

[Yi-Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

很喜歡這本書從不同的視角（複眼）來看二戰以及現代台灣的故事。印象最深刻的，是那些台灣在日本的少年工所經歷的波折與從「改為日本姓名」到「其實我們是屬於戰勝國」的轉變。那些彷彿失去青少年時期、又似乎從未好好長大的少年工，在二戰後的政權轉移下，變成台灣各個角落裡失落而逐漸被遺忘的一代。從睡眠與夢境中探索上一代散逸的、屬於台灣人的回憶，應該算是最有詩意的一本關於戰爭的文學著作了吧。

[yuc yuc · Rating 3 out of 5]

劇情有點雜亂和瑣碎，感覺吳明益想把太多理念塞在一本300頁的小說裡。但我還是非常喜歡吳明益的文筆。

睡眠的航線隱約可以看見吳明益之後幾本小說(複眼人、天橋上的魔術師)的影子，有些一再出現的角色和地點，蠻有趣的。